Dublin Writer Haunts

The map itself is geographically very loose. The river Liffey divides the north and south sides of the city and the focus is mainly on the writers and the locations. I wanted to create an illustration which utilised plenty of drawing and character rather than a graphic map.

The title of the map was created by illustrating the letters based on some fonts that I liked.

I spent some time sketching the portraits of each writer early in the process. Each portrait went through a series of stages until I felt I had captured a good likeness. The more iconic faces came easier to me while some of the others took a little longer to evolve. The client requested that the illustrations should include an element of linework so I relied on these initial pencil drawings when creating the final art.

Rudyard Kipling

Samuel Beckett was the first portrait I illustrated to establish the style. He has the most interesting face to draw. I also established the colour palette while working on him. I presented his finished portrait to the agency and the client for approval before continuing the entire piece.

The background of the illustration is heavily textured and also has a subtle layer of scanned pages of text.

I've had the odd pint of Guinness here :)

...and here...

'Davy Byrnes Pub'

I also created a series of lock-ups for the website which focused on each writer and their particular haunt.